jul 2003

[080703] finally found this poem that I read some more than 12 years ago, which captures so well e transience of all things good & beautiful in life:

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk doth make men better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night;
It was the plant and flower of light.
In small proportions we just beauty see;
And in short measure life may perfect be.

- Ben Johnson

[081203 update] Lokuttaradhamma (insights into the transcendental nature of all worldly phenomena) is wealth attainable by everyone - Lord Buddha

[140703] The Buddha said, 'Man must be strong enough to know when he is weak, brave enough to encounter fear, dignified and having moral courage in honest defeat, humble and gentle in victory.'

[230703] going through e worst & living to tell e tale, hitting rock bottom & climbing out of e abyss to see light again, having been right to e edge & back....gives this strange immunity against fear. cos u can seek comfort in e fact that u have faced up to e worst that there can be, made your peace, & lived on. like what they say, what cannot kill you can only make you stronger?

[ filed under: thewonderingstraycat + art1 + 9_lives_2003 ]